Attendance in school is a plays a pivotal role in shaping academic success, personal growth, and future prospects; aiming for healthy attendance and punctuality levels is, therefore, of paramount importance.

At St Martins we closely monitor attendance of all children and will support families and home-settings in maximising attendance for all children.

Missing time in school leads to lost learning, reduces the ongoing learning possible as foundation knowledge is weakened, social links can be reduced and confidence and self-esteem impacted.

From the chart below, you can see that we aim for attendance levels to be at 95% or above.

In order to achieve our aims we all need to work together; our responsibilities are as follows:

Parents/carers:

• Ensure that children arrive at school on time every day. Start times vary across the school so please check the diagram below carefully. Pupils who are late will receive an ‘L’ code on the register (in Primary this will be from 9:10 – 9:25, in Secondary this will be from 9:00 – 9:15).
• Provide the school with a clear explanation for student's absences from school in writing, email, on the Arbor App or on the phone to the school office within half an hour of the relevant start time.
• Provide medical evidence e.g. doctor's note if requested for either frequent or extended periods of absence
• Should aim not take Pupils out of school in term time.
• Where it is unavoidable to take children out of school during term time, a leave request form must be completed (and permission granted by the head teacher) at least two weeks before the planned absence.
• Notify the school as soon as problems arise with student's attendance.
• If no letter has been sent in advance, telephone the school on the first morning a student is absent and regularly keep the school informed by telephone or email on each morning of non-attendance.
• If requested, attend school for meetings arranged in order to support improving attendance
• Support the school in its ethos relating to the direct link between attendance and achievement.
• If it is necessary to leave early (for example for a medical appointment) parents/carers must inform the school by email, signed letter or by telephone of the time they will be collected and the reason for the absence. The adult collecting them should sign pupils out at the electronic registration system. Older pupils may only be released without an adult if there is signed written confirmation or email confirmation from parent/carer to allow this.

 Pupils:

• Arrive in school in time to reach tutor group registration base 8.40am in Secondary, 55am for Year 1 and 2, at 9:00am for Years 3, 4, 5 and at 9.10am for Year 6 and report to class or tutor group.
• Once arriving on school site (even if ‘early’) pupils are expected to remain on site
• Pupils arriving after 9.00am should sign in at the electronic registration system situated in the school office. Primary Pupils should be accompanied by parents. Entrance gates will be locked at 9:00am.
• Be on time for lessons.
• If it is necessary to leave early (for example for a medical appointment) parents/carers need to sign pupils out before they leave (unless permission has been granted for pupil to leave unattended).
• Discuss with Form Tutor, Head of Year or Student Support Services Managers if having any problems attending school.
• Engage in support and interventions to encourage healthy attendance patterns

Where a child (including those of non-statutory school age) is absent from school and parents have not contacted the school to inform them of the reason for absence the school the school will contact parents.

If it is not possible to contact parents and where there are pre-existing concerns about the safety or well-being of a pupil the school may carry out a home visit on the first day of absence.

Where there are serious concerns about the safety and well-being of a pupil whose reason for absence is not known the school may contact the police, local authority or social services.

In order to carry out Safeguarding responsibilities, when a pupil is absent from school for more than 5 days (regardless of the reason for absence) a member of school staff will be required to carry out a safe and well check on the child. The member of staff must have seen the child, in order to ascertain their safety. This could involve a home visit, virtual check in or the child briefly visiting the school. Safe and well checks must be carried out regardless of reasons for absence and will include pupils who are attending alternative provision, absent due to long term illness and have taken unauthorised holiday. When these checks cannot successfully be carried out the school may report the absence as a safeguarding concern or report the child to the Local Authority as missing in education.

Arbor App

You can see basic statistics of your child’s overall statutory AM and PM attendance for the year, and their attendance for the last four weeks by clicking their name at the top of the page and scrolling down to the Statistics section.